Cadaqués. The fishbowl of vanities

CADAQUÉS (CATALONIA). THE FISHBOWL OF VANITIES

The day before I had to pack away the exhibition I was getting ready to shoot more video takes to do a documentary, but I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted, so I prayed for a miracle.

–Oh. That’s Mohny! The one I like best is Sali, she is ex-act-ly like that! Look, it’s Tatu with her red hair! Look how she’s dancing! – Mami was saying in her Japanese accent and pointing at the paintings with her finger.

It was the miracle I had asked for. As soon as I saw her framed in the doorway I started to visualise the video. That little Japanese woman with a round face, under a big hat, talking and half laughing, was tracing the characters in the paintings. Nothing else was needed, the video was ready. The truth is that I am already used to believing in miracles, and when I say that, I mean that I think that anything is possible as long as you believe it is.

I have heard a lot of people say that this village isn’t what it used to be. Not true. I have lived many of the best experiences in my life in Cadaques over the last thirty years and I always say: “No, Cadaques hasn’t changed, it’s basically the same, it’s we who have changed”.

I started this story with the arrival of Mohny and I have ended up talking about miracles. Cadaques changes people. Sometimes it attracts people with problems and two things can happen: either they go downhill or they get over it; two options which are the opposite sides of the same coin.

We should scrutinse JC ROCA SANS’ (Barcelona 1946) artistic portrayal in the light of its internal consistency, as an artist who has lived firsthand, in Germany and in the U.S., the postmodern experience of the eighties and who nevertheless, or perhaps thanks to this, has always built his own language, not from the usual tried and tested methods, but from his own convictions; drawing and painting life, love and death as recurring themes, in an attempt to offer a personal view of the world and the human condition.